Rendre visible une maladie « invisible » : photographie ethnographique et négociations sociales dans la recherche médicale sur le trachome au Niger

Les représentations populaires des maladies biomédicales sont construites dans la toile des interactions sociales. Cet article, écrit à partir d’une recherche ethnographique sur le Programme d’Éradication du Trachome au Niger entre 2010 et 2011, prend appui sur des photographies pour analyser un type de situation où ces négociations émergent – les enquêtes épidémiologiques – et pour interroger la relation soignant-soigné et son influence sur la mise en visibilité d’une maladie biomédicale spécifique. La notion de visibilité est ici étendue afin de proposer une analyse réflexive du rôle de la photographie dans cette recherche et dans la construction d’une compréhension ethnographique de la circulation des représentations de la santé et de la maladie.Popular representations of biomedical diseases are created through social interactions. This paper, based on ethnographic research on the Trachoma Elimination Program in Niger in 2010-2011, uses ethnographic images to analyze one type of situation where these negotiations occur- epidemiological disease surveys – and to reflect upon the caregiver-patient relationships impacting the visibility of a specific biomedical disease. The notion of visibility is extended to provoke a reflexive analysis of the role of photography in this investigation and in the construction of an ethnographic understanding of the circulation of representations of health and illness

Negotiating Intersecting Precarities: COVID-19, Pandemic Preparedness and Response in Africa.

This article shares findings on COVID-19 in Africa across 2020 to examine concepts and practices of epidemic preparedness and response. Amidst uncertainties about the trajectory of COVID-19, the stages of emergency response emerge in practice as interconnected. We illustrate how complex dynamics manifest as diverse actors interpret and modify approaches according to contexts and experiences. We suggest that the concept of "intersecting precarities" best captures the temporalities at stake; that these precarities include the effects of epidemic control measures; and that people do not just accept but actively negotiate these intersections as they seek to sustain their lives and livelihoods

Outbreaks, Politics, and Perspectives. Stop 1: Geneva

International audienceAs we all face the global health COVID-19 pandemic and I launch a new collective research project to explore the social experiences of confinement in France, Italy, and the USA, I find myself thinking back to fieldwork that I did in 2015-2016 about malaria eradication. In this previous multi-sited work, I investigated how a material object (artemisinin-based combination therapy) was used to represent, create, and challenge social and political relationships. As COVID-19 highlights, health and illness are situated within these relations. Conceptions of risk, as well as ideas about how to prevent disease and mitigate harm, make the fissures and fusions of society visible

Rendre visible une maladie « invisible » : photographie ethnographique et négociations sociales dans la recherche médicale sur le trachome au Niger

International audienc

Review of Innovating Development Strategies in Africa, by Landry Signé

International audienceIn Innovating Development Strategies in Africa, Landry Signé examines the processes that have led to the development of institutions and public policy in sub-Saharan Africa in the almost sixty years that have passed since independence. Signé uses nine West African francophone countries to explore the key drivers of Africa's transformation, the differences between countries, and the roles of the international, regional, and national actors involved. He focuses on innovations at the level of processes, explored through the study of four independent variables: ideas, interests, institutions, and time. He uses these variables to structure the four chapters that make up the main body of the book, preceded by two chapters describing the theoretical and methodological context of studying innovation in African economic development strategies. The final chapter summarizes the key conclusions of his research and proposes new approaches to analyzing change in political science. The concept of innovation that informs this book is broader than the usual definition taken by African and international actors to describe their development strategies. By this term, Signé refers not only to a change in the content of development strategies, but also to "the manner in which these changes in content emerge and are transformed, regardless of whether they are modest or radical" (p. 2). His key interest is in how these innovations occur. He supports the hypothesis that, though at a normative level some have observed an apparent continuity of development strategies, important innovations in process require attention. The book does a remarkable job of highlighting the differences and similarities among the countries studied and putting them into a broader context. These countries tend to be overlooked by anglophone researchers, making their presence here especially important. They can be divided into countries that entered independence with socialist-leaning economies (Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mali), and those that leaned more liberal (Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Niger, Senegal, Togo). By conducting a cross-national comparison that focuses on change, Signé highlights both the diversity of actors involved in creating political and economic policies and the speed at which these developments have occurred. African countries are often portrayed as receiving imposed external development strategies with little choice of how to implement them. Signé highlights the role that national actors have in shaping these strategies-one of the unique features of his analysis. Signé positions his approach to studying development strategies in Africa beyond what he sees as two dominant analytical visions: a political-technocratic, liberal vision, whic

« Nous pouvons le combattre dans les urnes » : identité politique et Covid-19 aux États-Unis

Nom du blog/carnet : Carnet de l'EHESSNom du dossier : Perspectives sur le coronavirushttps://www.ehess.fr/fr/carnet/coronavirus/«-nous-pouvons-combattre-dans-urnes-»-identité-politique-et-covid-19-aux-étatsLe 10 mai 2020, les États-Unis ont pris la première place dans le classement mondial du nombre de cas de Covid-19. Quelques mois plus tôt, Donald Trump avait tenté de rassurer les Américains en affirmant que le virus aurait été sous contrôle pour Pâques. Puis il proclama que la pandémie serait finie à l’été car la chaleur tuerait le virus. Alors que j’écris ce billet, un nouveau président a été élu, et les vaccins nous font entr’apercevoir une lueur d’espoir. Sur CNN les présentateurs ont cessé de qualifier chaque jour qui passe comme le « pire jour » si on considère le nombre de cas de coronavirus. À la place, défile sur les écrans le nombre croissant des personnes vaccinées, côtoyant les images de fusillades de masse et celles de toujours plus d’hommes noirs abattus par la police. L’année dernière, les chaînes d’informations recommandaient de passer les fêtes de fin d’année pour ainsi dire en solitaire, faisant de Zoom ou Skype des outils d’adaptation des traditionnelles retrouvailles. La pandémie a augmenté la visibilité des cassures raciales, sociales et politiques dans le pays. Les États-Unis n’ont jamais eu de réponse cohérente qui aurait imposé un confinement national, contrairement à la France ou à la majorité des pays européens. Quelques États isolés ont appelé au port du masque obligatoire dans les espaces publics, mais treize États n’ont promulgué aucun décret sur le masque